Sense of urgency - Hollow to Halo

Sense of urgency is the impetus to winning while false
sense of urgency is the pebble in the shoe. – Dr. V. V. Rao.

It is human tendency to look for comfort- both physical and mental.

In this process, we always want to make sure that our new situation does not hurt us.

Thus almost all our decisions have a status-quo choice—a choice that means maintaining and keeping our current status.

The stark reality is that most of us prefer to make that choice—even if it no longer helps our genuine interests. This phenomena of ‘Keeping-status’ plays a pivotal role in stopping us from making the right new decision or choice. Under this status-quo situation we choose to make the choice which in turn is least likely to cause a change and cause any pinch of pain.

In our constant push for the ‘comfort zone’ we will ensure that the new circumstances does not upset us and we do not want to bite the bullet; sometimes to such great extent that it is hard to tell whether the change has even taken place. This inability to be flexible creates a lot of stress; in colloquial terms ‘emotional melodrama’ explodes when a situation forces us to make a choice.

Ultimately, we may choose to close our eyes to any new opportunities in this flat ride of ‘keeping the status-quo’ as a first choice.

The belief is that ‘longevity is excellent’. On the contrary, longevity and tradition are not always accurate predictors of excellence inertia. Habits, marketing prowess, market monopoly and the fear of change can all be the real reasons why we have not tried something new.

In one study, people who saw a painting described as having been painted in 1905 found it far more pleasing to look at than people who saw the same painting described as created in 2013. Every decision we make leads us to face pain and/or pleasure at some point of time.

To give a simple example, we want the benefits of innovation and change, without having to go through the hurdles of the change process. We expect other to draw our dream path, thus that irrevocable desire for an ideal rather picture perfect situation. In this process, we sabotage the purpose of our lives. Our desire to change must exceed the desire to maintain our status-quo. There is no other way out except moving from ‘Hollow to Halo’.

WalMarthas grown three times faster than the retail discount industry as a whole [Competing against TIME by George Stalk, JR. Thomas M. Hout ]. It has a return on capital that is more than twice of the industry.

Atlas Doorcan fill an order out-of-stock door in three to four weeks, one-third the industry average. Customers reward Atlas Door’s representative by buying doors often at 20 percent premium. Atlas Door grown three times faster than industry. Wilson Art decorative laminates grown three times faster than overall demand, and the profitability four times greater than the average competitor because of the responsiveness and sense of urgency they practice with their customers.

Thomasvillefurniture has a quick-ship program. The average industry response for an out-of-stock delivery is 30 days and the closest competitor’s average delivery time is more than 90 days, Thomasville grown four times faster than the industry.

Average loan disbursement require 90 to 120 days while HDFC and ICICI take 15 days and the demand for home loans has grown 100 percent year on year because of the responsiveness and sense of urgency they practice with their processes. 

In a nutshell companies and people are obtaining remarkable results by focusing on their sense of urgency.